Young Piquet's set to make road rocky for Alonso

Having been hounded out of McLaren by the youthful brilliance of Lewis Hamilton, the sulky Spaniard has headed for the comfort of home at Renault, with whom he won back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006.

On paper, a retainer worth at least £30million over three years and the guarantee of No1 status (something he craved but was never going to enjoy with Hamilton around) is the stuff of Alonso's dreams.

However, it was confirmed this week that his team-mate in 2008 will be Nelson 'Nelsinho' Piquet, the 22-year-old son of threetimes world champion Nelson Piquet.

And if speed and sniping runs in the blood, then Alonso may come to rue the haste with which he chose to shun Hamilton's company, only to find himself teamed up with another Formula One rookie.

Nelsinho is certainly fast, a fact confirmed in 2004 when, at 19, he became the youngest winner of the British F3 Championship, and in 2006 when he was a close second to Hamilton in the GP2 series, the feeder category into F1.

But Renault boss Flavio Briatore has calculated that he will not be as quick in an F1 car as Heikki Kovalainen, the promising Finn ditched because it was clearly felt he threatened a Hamilton-like conflict with 26-year-old Alonso.

Publically, Nelsinho is prepared to play second fiddle. He said: "I am looking forward to teaming up with Fernando and learning from him. As a rookie there is no better way to start your career than to have a double world champion as your reference point."

Such tact will be welcomed by both Alonso and Briatore, so desperate to revive Renault fortunes after the team's car proved poor this year.

But how long will it be before Piquet Jnr's tongue gets the better of him, in the manner of his father in the mid-Eighties when the enigmatic Brazilian engaged in one of sport's great rivalries with Williams team-mate Nigel Mansell?

When their conflict was at its height, Piquet felt inclined to describe Britain's track hero as an "uneducated blockhead", made derogatory comments about Mansell's wife and was fortunate not to receive a black eye as recompense.

Now he is stirring the pot on behalf of his son. The pushy dad said: "It's time for Nelsinho to show how good he is.

"He has to walk [into F1] thinking that whoever is on the other side of the pits will be outpaced. If Nelsinho is able to beat Fernando in their first qualifying session together it would be a good start, a way to start demoralising him."

Ominously, Piquet Jnr believes he is a chip off the old block. "I have the same capacity to win as my father had," he said.

Alonso has been warned. He could be in for another bumpy ride.